‘Drop’ interview: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, and Christopher Landon on IRL AirDrops, making a one-location film
The cast and crew of 'Drop' have some IRL AirDrop stories of their own, just not as nightmarish.
The release of Drop, Blumhouse’s latest horror/thriller, is right around the corner, proving that you can truly make a movie out of anything these days. Of course, stars Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar, as well as director Christopher Landon, all have some IRL AirDrop stories of their own—just not as nightmarish, hopefully?
You’ve heard of bad first dates, but how about…evil AirDrop? This is essentially the premise of Drop, which follows single mom Violet (Fahy) on a date from Hell. Nervous to be re-entering the dating scene after the death of her husband, Violet agrees to meet the charming Henry (Sklenar) for dinner. Things take a turn, however, when Violet begins receiving a series of anonymous texts telling her to murder her date—or else, her five-year-old son’s life is in danger.
If you’ve had the distinct pleasure of riding public transportation in recent years, or if you’re brave enough to toggle off that “contacts only” button in your AirDrop settings, odds are you’ve received an unprompted AirDrop or two. The cast of Drop, ironically enough, is no exception.
Drop cast shares AirDrop stories, talks the process of making a one-location film
The Mary Sue‘s Rachel Leishman got the chance to catch up with the film’s cast and director at SXSW over the weekend, where Fahy, Sklenar, and Landon all revealed their IRL AirDrop experiences. The strangest one? Sklenar getting an AirDrop request on an airplane. “I’ve certainly had the notification, yeah,” Fahy said. “Like on the subway? Yeah.” Invasive as it may be to some, Landon had a different take: “They’re so fun!”
As for the film itself, Drop takes place almost entirely in the same restaurant. In actuality, the restaurant was constructed on an elevated set “about 16 feet off the ground” to convey the location’s height. If filming at the exact same sound stage—with no windows, mind you—for days on end seems a bit tedious, that’s because it absolutely is. “It can get a little harder to get your energy up if you’re in the same space, same lighting, same clothes for us too,” Fahy said. “You really did feel like you were sitting in a restaurant.”
Sklenar also made the comparison to a very different film. “It’s like Groundhog Day. You know, same wardrobe, same set, same background,” Sklenar joked, adding later on in the interview, “One outfit, same chair.”
Even Landon felt like he was starting to lose his sense of what time of day it was while shooting Drop, equating it to his rather monotonous routine. We got into this routine where sometimes, I would get there be and like, ‘here we go,’ and you’d clomp up the steps and go into the restaurant.” Still, despite its repetitive nature, it helped Fahy to fully immerse herself in the movie’s environment.
Clearly, a lot went into making the Drop set as realistic as possible, but Landon also used cameras and lighting to convey Violet’s POV in a more symbolic way while keeping the story itself “moving” and “propulsive.”
We played a lot with lighting, and we also played a lot with our camera. We had talked about, there’s always two modes in the movie that we’re always shooting, and it’s all from her point of view. So it’s Violet on the date mode when she is performing for him, and for the restaurant, and so the camera tends to be pretty steady. And then there’s Violet dealing with this unseen person, and when that happens, the camera does a lot of other stuff; it’s very unsteady and it’s moving around a lot, and it’s twisting and turning. I think that really allowed for us to create a visual language that keeps the movie sort of moving and makes it feel more propulsive.
For those looking forward to seeing your worst dating fears play out on the big screen, Drop arrives in theaters on April 11, 2025.
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